Starbucks to open more outlets in India

Encouraged by the "tremendous response", Starbu-cks Coffee is planning to expand to more locations to tap the full potential of the vast Indian market where the coffee shop industry is growing at a fast clip.

Encouraged by the "tremendous response", Starbucks Coffee is planning to expand to more locations to tap the full potential of the vast Indian market where the coffee shop industry is growing at a fast clip.

"Till now, we have had a tremendous response to all our outlets in Mumbai and Delhi. We will go where we find customer demand," said Avani Davda, CEO, Tata Starbucks, a JV between Starbucks and Tata Group.

Davda said customers had appreciated the entry price point of the firm's offerings and Starbu-cks was looking at the market potential of various regions.

"We see a lot of potential...It's a country of over a billion. You can't gauge how much demand there is and will be," he said, adding data on India's retail coffee sector is still in a nascent stage.

Market estimates predict at least 100 million new coffee drinkers are likely to emerge in India in the near future. The coffee shop industry has been growing at 25% CAGR for a few years.

Starbucks entered the Indian market in October and operates six stores in Mumbai, two at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airportand three more in the city.